March 29, 2004

At the last monthly meeting on March 27th we initiated a new activity – a “LAN party”. It was the brainchild of the youngest member of the Board. Using the Ethernet hubs that PACS owns, he set up a truly local area network on a few tables in the cafeteria.

PACS SIG's
GROUP	TIME	ROOM	LEADER
HTML Workshop	9 am - 10 am	713	Davey
Database SIG	10 am - 11 am	711	Kalb
Web Design SIG	1 pm -2 pm	A02	Gustow

He invited any and everyone to bring their computers to the meeting and hook into this LAN to participate in multi-player gaming. We publicized this event, taking it as yet another way to draw new people to the PACS meetings.
Gaming may not be of great interest to many or even most PACS members. But we try to be a diversified user group, and gaming certainly occupies a significant niche in the pantheon of computing activities. Several small companies specialize in high-powered gaming computers, and even the big boys like Dell now offer gaming-configured PCs. Even more important than diversity – gaming attracts a young crowd. That’s what we got, and some of them joined PACS that very day! PACS has definitely become a graying organization, and I for one, the oldest member of the Board, very much want to see young people come in and become active in our club.
We will all benefit from it. Another reminder – it’s election time again. PACS needs people who are willing to join the Board and help us manage the club and make it more appealing to more people. We always need new ideas, and people who are ready and able to act on them. Please consider running for a position on the Board. Nominating forms will be available at the meeting on April 17, and on the website.

Philadelphia Area Computer Society